![]() ![]() Instead, she softballs, over Eurodance beats that sounded fresher three years ago, “You're ’bout as cute as an old coupon expired,” like the “Drag Race” queen who talks a big game then bombs the reading challenge. Teaming up with Nicki Minaj for a diss track aimed at mutual foe and burgeoning pop pariah Taylor Swift, Perry had built-in narratives on her side-all she had to do was bring the barbs. fumbling even the most obvious opportunities for verbal flourish. Instead, the album’s turns of phrase make Carly Rae Jepsen look like Yeats, with Perry and co. The bar is low when it comes to pop lyrics ( Perry, specifically), but with Witness’ premise lying in “real” talk, the talking part seems pretty important. The world does not need a hoary sequel to “Email My Heart” lest Perry double down and joke about how she’s “setting an out-of-office reply” for love, but instead she shrugs one of the record’s worst, most inscrutable lines: “I don’t fuck with change, but lately I’ve been flipping coins a lot.” It’s bad enough to put up with her constant hokeyness, her clichés and mangled metaphors, but when she takes an audible breath and tearily declares her decision to… save the email as a draft on the Lorde-jacking power-ballad “Save As Draft,” you will question her ability to separate modern mundanity from actual depth. Or perhaps it's that as soon as you get into a groove, Perry goes and says something truly cringe-worthy to pull you right out. For as omnipresent as executive producer Max Martin is, the hooks just don’t sink in the way they used to. To her credit, Perry’s sound is more consistent and tasteful here than it has ever been, as she explores the midtempo via atmospheric electronics and bleeding-heart pianos. (Seriously: I got a press release about watching Perry’s “shockingly honest” therapy session, the canned nature of which made her 2012 doc Part of Me resemble Don’t Look Back.) Not thoughtful enough to be album pop, not catchy enough to be singles pop: there is no real way to root for Witness- tone-deaf PR campaign included. Her attention to detail pales next to that of album-minded peers like Beyoncé, Drake, and Lorde, and her poorly chosen singles often rely on eye-rolling gimmicks, even for someone who used a large poop emoji as a live prop. ![]() Katy Perry now finds herself in this position, and the reason is twofold. Either way, she still believes in the idea of the untouchable persona, which aligns “Never Really Over,” with its willfully imprecise lyrics and its carefully reverbed vocals, with “Me!” by her old frenemy Swift.įor Swift, that approach hasn’t yet fended off the newcomers eager to take her place in the near future.So what happens when your fourth record kinda sucks, too? At 34, maybe she views that position as being out of reach perhaps her prime-time gig on “American Idol” makes edge a liability rather than an asset. (Zedd co-produced “Never Really Over,” his second collaboration with Perry following the recent “365.”)īut Perry seems uninterested in projecting the kind of rough edges that have come to define pop stardom in the years since she was regularly topping charts. “Never Really Over,” which presumably heralds the arrival of Perry’s fifth studio album, has healing in mind as well its video follows Perry as she checks into a rehab facility for people with broken hearts.Īnd like Cyrus, Perry is borrowing sounds from today’s young hitmakers - in this case the close-miked ASMR finger-snaps that figure so prominently in Eilish’s music. Taylor Swift recently dropped her single “Me!” Ed Sheeran and Justin Bieber teamed this month for “I Don’t Care.” (Both songs have been blocked from the top spot on Billboard’s Hot 100 by Lil Nas X’s viral country-trap smash, “Old Town Road.”) Now Cyrus and Katy Perry, both of whom have been with us for well over a decade, are back with new music that came out Friday. Not so long ago, Post Malone and Cardi B were redefining how idols emerge (and what their music sounds like) then Billie Eilish and Lil Nas X showed up and threatened to somehow make Post and Cardi feel like the establishment. Music has moved quickly in the streaming era beyond the models that flourished in the 2000s and early 2010s. ![]() Miley Cyrus plays a pop star in an upcoming episode of the sci-fi series “Black Mirror.” Set in the near future, the dystopian drama looks as creepy as usual - but it’s also a little quaint, since it suggests Cyrus will still be the type for that job in 10 or 20 years. ![]()
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